Meaning & History
From a frequent misspelling of the English noun centurion, which refers to a Roman army officer that commanded a century (i.e. a group of one hundred). This was recorded as a Puritan given name, presumably used in reference to the centurion who was present at the crucifixion according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (who is widely considered to be the first Christian), or due to other occurrences of centurions in the New Testament.